Bjork Army Of Me Analysis

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The term “psychoanalytic criticism” covers how the unconscious dimension, subjectivity and sexuality of the human relates to our understanding of both literary and filmic cultural texts (Buchanan 2010, p389-390). The concept of psychoanalytic criticism is used to contribute to our understanding of Michael Gondry’s Bjork: Army of Me in a number of ways. It can explain how the use of the unconscious is able to determine the behaviour of the ‘repressed’ thoughts and desires as they are forced out of our conscious awareness, by adapting to practices that are based on specific theories developed by Sigmund Freud between 1856-1939 (Barry 2009, p92). One of the key aspects of this is the use of symbols and connotations, which hide meanings below …show more content…

The music video connects closely to the idea of ‘id’ which represents our unconscious wants and desires in a way that Bjork uses self-questioning. Throughout the clip the audience is able to determine what they believe Bjork may be questioning, do I want my boyfriend alive or asleep? Is this going to be a thrill? It also reflects upon the ‘ego’ which takes into account what is socially accepted while controlling the ‘id’. Aspects of the ‘ego’ and ‘superego’ begin to clash as we take into account moral standards and what we are obligated to do or not to do. The way that the gorilla takes the diamond out of Bjork’s mouth and attempts to stash it away and keep it to himself represents the way society may perceive this as morally wrong as we should not be obligated to do this and the incidental situation where Bjork places a bomb in the museum next to her boyfriends …show more content…

Throughout Army of Me Gondry/ Bjork use displacement to represent an element that stands for something else (Barry 2009, p94). By using the gorilla and diamond they are able to symbolise the way that Bjork believes everything is taken away from her. On the other hand the use of condensation allows several things to become compressed into one symbol (Barry 2009, p94). With the use of the truck to represent both the internal systems of her body as she feels that she is unable to stand up for herself alongside the representation of the portrayal of women, whilst also embodying the truck itself as an image alluding her driving from a young age. Bjork is symbolic for self awareness with her vehicle representing the internal systems. As Barry stated dreams “do not normally make explicit statements” yet they rather “communicate obliquely or indirectly” (Barry 2009,

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